The Indiana Gazette has a sugarcoated column by Andrew Smith about what’s been announced at the DC FanDome virtual convention, and there’s reasons why the much-delayed Flash movie is not something to celebrate:
What it’s about: The on-again, off-again Flash movie, starring Ezra Miller (“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”), is on again for 2022.
Why I’m excited: FanDome confirmed that the movie will be based on 2011’s “Flashpoint,” a story where Barry Allen goes back in time to stop Reverse-Flash from killing his mother, which changes history. When he returns to the present, half of Europe is underwater, Thomas Wayne is Batman, Aquaman’s Atlantis and Wonder Woman’s Themyscira are at war and Superman is a helpless government guinea pig.
“The Flash” probably won’t be that ambitious, but it will introduce the Multiverse to DC’s movies. which explains different versions of the same character (See: The Joker). In this movie alone, we’re promised both the Ben Affleck Batman and the Michael Keaton Batman.
Also: Flash will have a new uniform, replacing that homemade atrocity he wore in “Justice League.”
Why I’m neither excited nor pleased with the casting news (and certainly not with he who sugarcoats it): Ezra Miller, as some might know, was discovered assaulting a woman all the way over in Iceland. But, in a sign that, 3 years after the Weinstein scandal, Tinseltown’s sliding back to their old tricks, Miller’s not only not facing charges, Warner Bros. studios is keeping him on the movie set, despite the seriousness of the topic, and despite a certain portion of film fans demanding he be fired for his offensive crime.
Reports also note that despite Aquaman co-star Amber Heard’s offenses against ex-husband Johnny Depp, she’s still being kept on in the Mera role, even though there’s moviegoers who’re turned off by the news of her sordid background. So from a moral perspective for starters, WB’s certainly got quite a debacle on their hands, and for all we know, it could translate into a financial disaster as well. The 1st Aquaman movie may have done relatively well at the box office when it was released, but now, considering what its co-star did, that’s why things could be taking a 360 degree turn for the worse if and when the sequel is released.
And why should I be excited for a screenplay based on such an atrocious story as Flashpoint was built on, turning Barry Allen’s parents into sacrificial lambs for the sake of a politically correct narrative of darkness? What’s so “ambitious” about that? At worst, if this is what the screenplay is based on, they’re taking something a newcomer could have trouble climbing aboard on in the comics and putting it into a movie, where a moviegoer could have additional trouble understanding anything, unless they took the time and money to search for the original material from around 2011, and even then, they’d be getting struck with a story so insulting to the intellect, retconning everything for the sake of a selfish editorial’s idea of what entertainment should really be like, not all that different from Batman’s bleak vision? I wouldn’t waste money on this film in the works, even if Miller wasn’t the star.
Here’s also another column by Smith in the paper detailing the recently released movie based on the New Mutants, which doesn’t seem to have fared well at the box office, partially due to the Covid19 pandemic’s making a lot of moviegoers reluctant to attend, and it says, while discussing the delays in release over the past few years:
In early 2018, the movie was pushed to Feb. 22, 2019. According to CinemaBlend, this was for two reasons: One, to have extensive reshoots to emphasize horror elements (“IT” had done well) and to give it some breathing room from “Deadpool 2,” scheduled for summer 2018. […]
But it happened. “New Mutants” premiered at whatever theaters were open on Aug. 28 (2,412 of them, according to The Hollywood Reporter) for a $7 million opening weekend. Which impresses nobody. And the reviews are … well, “mixed” is probably the right word.
What is a sad finish to the “New Mutants” saga. It had a great premise (a teen-horror superhero movie)! A great inspiration (the legendary “Demon Bear Saga”)! A hot, young, star-studded cast (Williams, Heaton,Taylor-Joy)! A groundbreaking romance (no, I won’t spoil it)!
I think there’ve been more than enough teen-horror thrillers over the years (Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Idle Hands, to name some of the most notorious), and we could honestly do without those. If New Mutants as a comic during 1983-91 had any darkness to it, that’s one thing, but horror stories is going quite a bit far, and in the book material I’ve read, it was far from a horror genre-related creation. At worst, the movie’s premise suggests it lacks a good sense of humor, what could be more encouraging for the audience at a time when laughter might avail better for the senses.
In any event, it’s not hard to guess, again, that the Covid-19 pandemic continues to have a negative effect on moviegoing, and for all we know, the audience may have even lost interest in blockbuster movies, as they’re just not delivering the goods anymore.
We’ll see.
Originally published here.
